The invention relates to a rope guide of a rope drum in a crane, the rope guide surrounding the rope drum and keeping a hoisting rope in a spiral rope groove of the rope drum when the hoisting rope is wound into the rope groove or unwound from it, whereby the rope guide comprises a body that is made up of several parts and surrounds the rope drum; a rope guide element at a winding/unwinding point of the hoisting rope; hoisting rope retaining means for pressing the hoisting rope into the rope groove; and several guide members distributed on the circumference of the rope guide and arranged to move on a surface of the rope drum or the hoisting rope to guide the hoisting rope being wound onto the rope drum or unwound from it.
Rope guides of this type are previously known and there are numerous different versions of them. A general problem with them is the difficulty of their installation and maintenance. Some models also require special tools for this work. Installation and maintenance work cannot be avoided, since a rope guide is classified as a wearing part of a crane. Sometimes, a rope guide is also misused, which speeds up its wear and the need to replace it.
Known rope guides are typically relatively massive entities, which means that it is possible to use heavy cast-iron structures, for instance. In addition, each rope guide on the market is almost invariably suitable for only one rope drum model and size, so, in practice, only tolerance variations are allowed for the diameter of the rope drum and the pitch of the rope groove.
Also, several rope guides are not only susceptible to wear, but also cause wear in the rope drum and hoisting rope. Wear in a rope drum is especially extensive, if the run of the rope guide in the rope drum groove is implemented by an element that trails at the bottom of the rope groove. Elements coming into contact with a rope are often also made of rope-wearing materials.
Some examples of rope guides representing the closely related prior art are disclosed in publications U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,634,079, 5,335,895, and 5,482,219, for example. The above-mentioned drawbacks also occur in these.